Brian Seidel
{{Short description|Australian artist (1928–2019)}}
Brian Seidel (30 August 1928 – 17 April 2019){{cite web|url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/creators/brian-seidel/6301/ |title=Seidel, Brian |publisher=Art Gallery of South Australia |date=25 November 2023}} was a post-war South Australian painter, print-maker and teacher. His artworks are held by the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery of SA, Art Gallery of WA, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Parliament House, [https://www.artbank.gov.au/ Art Bank] as well as in regional and tertiary gallery collections.{{Cite book |last=McCulloch |first=Alan |title=The New McCulloch's Encyclopedia of Australian Art |last2=McCulloch |first2=Susan |last3=McCulloch-Childs |first3=Emily |date=2006 |publisher=The Miegunyah Press |isbn=052285317X |edition=4th |location=Carlton, Victoria |pages=867 |language=en}}
History
= Early life =
Brian Edwin [https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/person/tree/179362569/person/332335799430/facts Seidel] was born in Rose Park, South Australia, the eldest son of Edwin Karl "Ed" Seidel (1899–1972)[https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/person/tree/179362569/person/332335799662/facts] and his wife Thora Dotheen Seidel, née Clisby (1905–1977),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199982152 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=Saturday Journal (Adelaide) |volume=XLIII |issue=16457 |location=South Australia |date=8 September 1928 |access-date=24 November 2023 |page=29 |via=National Library of Australia}} who married in 1927.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article47395495 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |volume=94 |issue=29,153 |location=South Australia |date=19 March 1952 |access-date=24 November 2023 |page=20 |via=National Library of Australia}} Ed and Thora Seidel had two sons Brian Edwin and John Fraser. Edwin Karl Seidel was of German heritage and his grandfather Johan Christian Seidel arrived in South Australia aboard British Emperor.
= Education =
Brian Seidel attended Adelaide High School and then the Goodwood Technical School where the art teacher Jeffery Smart was an early influence on the young Seidel and he became a life-long friend. At the time Smart ran en-plein air painting sessions on Saturday mornings that Brian Seidel attended.{{Cite book |last=Quartermaine |first=Peter |title=Brian Seidel: Landscapes and Interiors. |publisher=The Beagle Press |year=1993 |isbn=0947349073 |location=Roseville, NSW |pages=11–14}} Jeffrey Smart was probably responsible for Seidel’s artwork “Station at Snowtown” being exhibited at the Royal South Australian Society of Arts Autumn exhibition in April 1945.{{Cite news |date=26 April 1945 |title=AUTUMN SHOW OF PICTURES |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43490528 |access-date=1 Jan 2025 |work=The Advertiser |pages=3}} Brian Seidel became a member of the Contemporary Art Society (CAS) in 1946 and he exhibited two pencil drawings at the fourth CAS exhibition at the Institute Building in July 1946.{{Cite news |date=24 July 1946 |title=CONTEMPORARY ART SOCIETY |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74637841 |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |pages=7}} Ivor Francis in his review of the RSASA Autumn 1947 exhibition suggested that “Jeff Smart…Louis James and Brian Seidel are on the way to founding a strong socio-realist group of painters in Adelaide".{{Cite news |last=Francis |first=Ivor |date=23 April 1947 |title=AUTUMN ART SHOW "UNINSPIRED" |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article127302403 |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=News (Adelaide) |pages=4}}
Seidel then trained at the Adelaide Teachers College and later the South Australian School of Art (from 1947) where Ivor Hele (later Sir Ivor Hele) was teaching. In May 1947 Brian Seidel won second prize for an oil painting in the first University student art exhibition{{Cite news |date=17 May 1947 |title=Interesting Paintings By Students |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55887789 |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=The Mail (Adelaide) |pages=7}} and he exhibited two works at the 1948 University Student’s Art Exhibition.{{Cite news |date=14 June 1948 |title=University Students' Art Exhibition |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43770644 |access-date=1 January 2025 |work=The Advertiser (Adelaide) |pages=5}} He received the Teachers' Certificate in 1951 and a Diploma of Art from SA School of Art 1956. He undertook further training at the University of Iowa and Slade School of Art. He taught in Adelaide for many years, including as a tutor at Flinders University.{{cite book|author=Max Germaine |title=Artists and Galleries of Australia and New Zealand |year=1979 |publisher=Lansdowne Editions |isbn=0868320196}}
He was art critic for the Adelaide News 1963–1966, and was involved with numerous stage performances in Adelaide between the years 1950 and 1970 as stage designer, from revue to opera. In 1971 he took a position at the Preston Institute of Technology in Victoria.
He held various one-man exhibitions in Adelaide, including several in conjunction with the Adelaide Festival of Arts 1966 and 1972. He won various prizes, including a Fulbright Scholarship in 1961.
The Art Gallery of South Australia holds several examples of his work.{{cite web|url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/collection-publications/collection/?q=Brian%20Seidel&type=work&has-images=yes&on-display=no |title=Seidel, Brian: Works |publisher=Art Gallery of South Australia |access-date=25 November 2023}}
No records have been found to connect him with the South Australian painter Nola Annette Seidel (22 October 1940 – 17 February 2019)
References
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Category:20th-century Australian painters
Category:Australian art educators
Category:Australian scenic designers